﻿THE 
  

   LONDON, 
  EDINBURGH, 
  and 
  DUBLIN 
  

  

  PHILOSOPHICAL 
  MAGAZINE 
  

  

  AND 
  

  

  JOURNAL 
  OF 
  SCIENCE. 
  

  

  [SIXTH 
  SERIES.] 
  

  

  NOVEMBER 
  1908. 
  

  

  LIX. 
  A 
  Revision 
  of 
  the 
  Fundamental 
  Laivs 
  of 
  Matter 
  and 
  

   Energy. 
  By 
  Gilbert 
  N. 
  Lewis, 
  Ph.D., 
  Associate 
  Pro- 
  

   fessor 
  of 
  Physical 
  Chemistry, 
  Massachusetts 
  Institute 
  of 
  

   Technology, 
  Boston 
  *. 
  

  

  RECENT 
  publications 
  of 
  Einstein 
  t 
  and 
  Comstock 
  % 
  on 
  the 
  

   relation 
  of 
  mass 
  to 
  energy 
  have 
  emboldened 
  me 
  to 
  

   publish 
  certain 
  views 
  which 
  I 
  have 
  entertained 
  on 
  this 
  

   subject 
  and 
  which 
  a 
  few 
  years 
  ago 
  appeared 
  purely 
  specula- 
  

   tive, 
  but 
  which 
  have 
  been 
  so 
  far 
  corroborated 
  by 
  recent 
  

   advances 
  in 
  experimental 
  and 
  theoretical 
  physics 
  that 
  it 
  

   seems 
  desirable 
  to 
  subject 
  these 
  views 
  to 
  a 
  strict 
  logical 
  

   development, 
  although 
  in 
  so 
  doing 
  it 
  will 
  be 
  necessary 
  to 
  

   modify 
  those 
  fundamental 
  principles 
  of 
  the 
  mechanics 
  of 
  

   ponderable 
  matter 
  which 
  have 
  remained 
  unaltered 
  since 
  the 
  

   time 
  of 
  Newton. 
  

  

  The 
  recent 
  experiments 
  which 
  indicate 
  a 
  change 
  in 
  the 
  mass 
  

   of 
  an 
  electron 
  with 
  the 
  speed, 
  together 
  with 
  the 
  phenomenon 
  

   of 
  radioactivity, 
  have 
  in 
  some 
  minds 
  created 
  a 
  doubt 
  as 
  to 
  the 
  

   exact 
  validity 
  of 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  most 
  general 
  laws 
  of 
  nature. 
  

   In 
  the 
  following 
  pages 
  I 
  shall 
  attempt 
  to 
  show 
  that 
  we 
  may 
  

   construct 
  a 
  simple 
  system 
  of 
  mechanics 
  which 
  is 
  consistent 
  

   with 
  all 
  known 
  experimental 
  facts, 
  and 
  which 
  rests 
  upon 
  the 
  

   assumption 
  of 
  the 
  truth 
  of 
  the 
  three 
  great 
  conservation 
  laws, 
  

  

  * 
  Communicated 
  by 
  the 
  Author, 
  

   t 
  Ann. 
  Phys. 
  xviii. 
  p. 
  639 
  (1905). 
  

   X 
  Phil. 
  Mag 
  xv. 
  p. 
  1 
  (1908). 
  

  

  Phil. 
  Mag. 
  S. 
  6. 
  Vol. 
  16. 
  No. 
  95. 
  Nov. 
  1908. 
  3 
  A 
  

  

  